Children's Books and the Internet

The following two samples themes demonstrate how children's books and Web sites can be used together in the classroom:

1. Microbiology

Yuck! A Big book of Little Horrors by Robert Sneeden. K-Gr 4.
Illustrated with full color photographs from the Science Photo Library, this photo-essay moves in close to examine everyday items, magnified 35,000 times through microscopic photography, and the dust mites, fungi, parasites, and other living things that extend the investigation, even if their school does not have sophisticated microscopes, by visiting Internet sites:

• http://www.cellsalive.com/mite.htm
  Dust mite that causes allergies
• http://fungi.fvlmedia.dk/
  Fungi images

2. Oral Histories

Oral history projects help build skills in reading, writing and research. Through oral history projects, students often discover interesting and even unusual things about family members and best friends. Use some of the following books as models for student projects:

• Suggested Books with Relative Web Site
  http://www.secondstartotheright.com/books/column/c188.htm

Leon's Story by Leon Tillage, illustrated by Susan Roth. Gr 4 and up.
Recorded on tape and transcribed by artist Susan Roth. Leon's Story is an oral history that goes to the heart of the teller's memories, as Leon recalls the difficult and frightening times he and his family (and many other African Americans) lived through during the first half of the twentieth century.

• http://www.nps.gov/stli/serv02.htm#Ellis
  I Was Dreaming To Come To America: Memories from the Ellis Island Oral History Project (edited by Veronica Lawlor)
• http://www.deltastate.edu/pages/177.asp
  Freedom's Children: Young civil rights activists tell their own stories (edited by Ellen Levine)

Helpful Web Sites for Collecting Family Histories & Other Useful Information

• http://www.byub.org/ancestors/
  A past PBS series that highlights the positive impact family histories can have on individuals. Includes teacher's guide, and other useful information.
• http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/
  An excellent list of interview questions for students to consider when collecting oral histories. Lots of web links on genealogy. Click on "Root's Guide to Tracing Family Trees", click on "Where to Begin", click on "Learn to Ask the Right Questions".
• http://holocaust.umd.umich.edu/dorfman/
  Interview with Henry Dorfman, Holocaust Survivor
• http://www.hps.gov/stli/serv02.htm#Ellis